Cross-phase-modulation-induced nonlinear phase noise in WDM direct-detection DPSK systems

In direct-detection differential-phase-shift-keying (DPSK) systems, the signal-spontaneous emission beat noise introduces phase noise due to Kerr nonlinearity. In wavelength-division-multiplexed (WDM) systems, this nonlinear phase noise comes not only from the channel itself through self-phase modulation (SPM) but also from the other channels through cross-phase modulation (XPM). In this paper, we theoretically and experimentally investigate XPM-induced nonlinear phase noise. We calculate the performance degradation of DPSK systems caused by XPM-induced nonlinear phase noise in addition to SPM-induced phase noise and experimentally verify it using a 600-km nonzero-dispersion-shifted-fiber link.